OT & PT Jobs Among Best Healthcare Careers

The Affordable Care Act is expected to create a number of new healthcare jobs in various sectors, from working directly with patients to working behind the scenes.

A new CareerCast report lists biomedical engineer (62-percent growth within the next 10 years), dental hygienist (38-percent growth) and occupational therapist (33 percent growth) as the top three best professions in healthcare.

Physical therapist is listed as the fifth-best profession, with a corresponding forecast growth of 39 percent.

Overall, CareerCast quotes the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies as predicting 31-percent growth in healthcare employment in the United States in the next 10 years. That would equal 4.6 million total jobs.

Biomedical engineer grabbed the top healthcare segment ranking for being a new profession that's on the "cutting edge of the healthcare industry," the CareerCast announcement stated. "Innovations made in biomedical engineering research will be vital through the coming decade of treatment and preventative care."

Medical records technician was listed as the 11th best healthcare profession, with the report noting, "An increase in the number of people with healthcare coverage means more people accessing medical care, which in turn generates more records. A medical records technician is crucial for the day-to-day workflow within a practice."